What's Your Fall Harvest?

[txdon]

....I sometimes wonder why people take the time and expense to grow things like peanuts and potatoes for personal consumption, when I was a kid I recall my mom growing potatoes in her home garden and they were so common and cheap to buy at a store, even today while I could grow potatoes at home, I might go through 30-35 pounds a year at the very most so to me it's not worth the headache to grow them.

But to those who do grow potatoes and peanuts at home...do they taste that much better than what you can buy at a store?

My grandfather grew peanuts in Lee County and it was a nostalgic thing to do to bring back old memories. I can appreciate what he did more now.

 

[MossRoad]

But to those who do grow potatoes and peanuts at home...do they taste that much better than what you can buy at a store?

I grow things for the satisfaction and enjoyment, not for the economic or health reasons. I often joke with my wife that I have several hundred dollars worth of fence protecting $35.00 worth of vegetables. :laughing:

 

[brin]

For the past two weeks we have been harvesting Pecans...Georgia Pecans ...The Mrs. and I go to the farm frequently at this time of the year to collect our crop...we have a nice Pecan orchard and new young trees now beginning to bear....Pecan prices are and have been high...we have an exceptional corp this year.

 

[Jstpssng]

I grow things for the satisfaction and enjoyment, not for the economic or health reasons. I often joke with my wife that I have several hundred dollars worth of fence protecting $35.00 worth of vegetables. :laughing:

Same here. If I kept track of how much it costs me to put in my garden every year ot would scare me... which is one reason why I don't. And that's not counting my time. Yet it's nice to go out back and pick something for supper, and I do notice the difference in my grocery bill.

Plus I know what I put on them, and that they aren't GE, although that may or may not make a difference in the quality.

 

[JDgreen227]

Same here. If I kept track of how much it costs me to put in my garden every year ot would scare me... which is one reason why I don't. And that's not counting my time. Yet it's nice to go out back and pick something for supper, and I do notice the difference in my grocery bill.

Plus I know what I put on them, and that they aren't GE, although that may or may not make a difference in the quality.

A season or two ago, someone here started a thread about the cost vs. savings when growing a garden, may have been me. Well, one member contributed a post which told me to read the book: "The $64 tomato" and while my red fruits will never approach the cost of $64 each, it was very good reading and I can't help but think about it during my gardening season. I probably have at least $300 in materials alone for my fence, posts, and gate plus untold hours installing them. Add in the cost of sets, seeds, water, fertilizer, etc. and the cost goes up. The pepper crop I recently picked, cleaned, sliced, and froze probably took at least four to five hours of time to prepare. A cost estimate of the harvest, should I have purchased them at a store, would probably be maybe $15-18 total. Now, do I tell myself I saved $15-18 by growing my own peppers, or do I tell myself I went to all that work tilling, planting, fertilizing, spraying, watering, etc. to save the $15-18 over buying them ready grown? Whatever....but when I open my freezer in mid-winter and gaze at my frozen goodies, I will grin and say "I GREW THOSE".

 

[Knight9]

Most set up costs are almost "one time" items. The benefit and joy of a garden goes on for years. I'd rather pay for fencing and some gas for a tiller or such than buy anemic looking sprayed veggies from a store.